Although implementation and effects of Supply Chain Management (SCM) initiatives have been
widely investigated, the issue of sequences of SCM initiatives companies undertake to improve
their performance has not been studied in sufficient depth. The objective of the current study is to
develop an understanding of the decisional process that leads a company, at a given point of time,
to choose the subsequent SCM initiative to be implemented. Specifically, it addresses how: the
state of supply network integration and configuration, and the fit between actual supply network
performances and those required to stay in the market (in this paper referred to as external fit)
affect the adoption of the following SCM initiatives. Four supply networks whose pivotal firms
are leading pharmaceutical companies have been investigated. Our observations suggest that,
when deciding the SCM initiative(s) to be implemented, external fit and the state of supply
network configuration and integration are both important but for different reasons. In particular,
lack of external fit triggers the implementation of SCM initiatives. These are then selected by
considering the current state of supply network configuration and integration, and the
performance dimensions (such as quality, cost, speed) that managers intend to improve to realise
the external fit. SCM sequences are the result of a series of successive iterative decisional
situations, where the external fit and state of supply network configuration and integration vary
each time a new SCM initiative is implemented. Initial findings are promising. However, further
research is required to develop a generalisable theory.
